Moondrops
by smurfish fish
Summary: There is one ninja gone missing. One gunslinger who doesn't want to save her. Plus the realization that miracles don't always come to those waiting for them. [yuffentine] Because that's what people do. They jump. And hope to God they can fly.
1. Define

………─▶ Define  
((**D e a t h**)) for idiots. ↖. . . . . .

**1. ［****N**oun**］**; One big jump. Stupid. Horrifying. Terrible.

Too far away. Not _ready_ yet.

Almost too..._funny_.

**2. ［****F**reakative**］**; Yuffie was heavier than a rock. And Vincent? How much do you think _he_ weighs? With all his freakin' muscle—

(Never mind that.)

The point was this: they didn't have _wings_.

Or something like that.

**3. ［****A**djective**］**; "I'm ready."

Surprisingly, that was Yuffie. That annoying, nag, nag, nagging Yuffie.

But today wasn't like that.

She was _ready_. For once.

A pure, wingless journey.

Down, down, down.

"Together."

And surprisingly, that was Vincent.

"Lets go together. For now."

Maybe

f o r e v e r?

**4. ［****P**rologueative**］**; And here's the thing—

Yuffie + Vincent.

Pain.

Like needles circling your skin.

Yuffie + Vincent.

One jagged mess.

**5. ［****A**ction**］**;

"_One_."

"_Two_."

"_Thre-_."

**6. ****［****Q**uestion**］**; Were they _really_ ready for th—

"**JUMP!"**

(Die.)

(End it)

(Forever.)

**7. ［****R**egretive. **A**w-too-late-ative**］**

End of discussion.

—

* * *

**［&-they-also-speak-ative］**

* * *

Pwa. Fear. The Tunabob...(now smurfishfish) is back. For MORE. ［Dun Dun Dun］But here's the thing- this is the prologue and you won't get it. Exciting, isn't it? Come back and read this constantly after every chapter. Then, maybe...you might figure out the end. O.O; 

And thanks for reading. Review and we'll be your_ best friend_ forever.

((Next comes _the_ Plumbob/slug/smurf/JanuaryBlue.))


	2. Lost Ninja Kids

［lost ninja kids］

* * *

**&**& i**_t's _all**_ **ab**o**u**t __t_h_e _**W _O _**_R__ d** s ,** _w**ord**_s_

words

* * *

It wasn't, like, this magical, mystical place. It wasn't a bloody, gory death scene. It was a _cave_. It was a cave and it was gray and it was _boring_ and there were ants trying to swim and she watched them with dull eyes as they failed. This was _so _not the way that Yuffie Kisaragi had planned to kick the bucket: in a boring cave with nothing but Olympic insects to hear her magnificent last words. It was _such_ an unoriginal way to die, too.

Oh, you're chained to a rock and now you're being all flooded in. Great. So, what else is new?

Plus, what were these magnificent last words supposed to be? She refused to find out in the next life that her last words were something stupid like, "Um," or, "Oh, no you _didn't _just tie me up to this rock!" It had to be something out of one of those glorious girl-power stories where the heroine yells out lines of inspirational brilliance before giving her life for her lover in some slow, painful way. Or possibly for her dog. Either way, it was tear jerking.

I mean, really, Yuffie was starting to cry just thinking about it.

Okay, so, actually, that was because the glowing, green water had reached her shivery, pale knees and she couldn't get untied and _Goddammit, _she didn't _want _to die! She never got to tell Cid that she loved him best. And she never mastered her Knights of Round. And Godo was going to be pissed with her because she put the empty milk jug back into the fridge again. And she _loved_ him to death too, but she never got the chance to say it. And she just _missed _them all already. And she was going to _die._

And the world was going to be a total _bore _without her around.

The ninja could have cried out for help, of course.

And then she could have listened to the disappointment _again, _when no one called back. No one came.

Through blurry eyes and raw hands and aching heart, she watched the watery entrance to her _boring, gray _cave. And she was going to _drown._

How novel.

And she watched the disappointment _again, _because no one was coming. And also because, once again, her world was falling apart.

Already.

* * *

toga!**toga!**toga!**toga!**toga!**toga!**toga!**toga!**toga!**toga!**toga!**toga!**toga!**toga!**toga!**toga!**toga!**toga!**toga!**toga!**toga!**toga!**toga!**toga!**toga!**toga!**toga!**toga!****

* * *

**

Vincent Valentine wasn't what you would call a social butterfly. Not exactly. Like, for instance, the place where this story starts: his first call on his first cell phone. Weird place it should start, isn't it? A stone man making a stone _fool_ of himself. Not that _he _ever admitted it. She admitted it enough for both of them… Just like she always, _always_ did. And just like always; he never, _never_ said anything about it. But that's not the point…

This is the point: It was a sunny day in Nibelheim. Well, actually, no. No, it wasn't. Not exactly.

Apologies.

It was a slightly less dreary day than usual in Nibelheim and Vincent Valentine emerged from the newly built cell phone store with shoes glimmering and cape majestic and eyes looking fierce and ebony hair whipping out around his face. He looked pretty much like he always did, but it was still mucho impressive. Vincent Valentine liked to think of himself as a pretty impressive guy. Well, no. But be _did_ like to think of himself as a sinful guy who would suicide for redemption if he deserved the solace it would bring. But, um, _still_, he was an impressive guy, so it hardly mattered what _he _thought.

Monster, monster, yeah, we _know, _but had he _seen _a mirror lately? Obviously not. He wasn't in love with himself.

Which was a strange thing.

So, anyway, he strode out of that store, carrying the namesake, a brand spankin' new cell phone with all the fixings. After the whole Reunion fiasco, a little over two months ago, he'd decided that he needed to keep in touch with his friends at least to the barest minimum. They might need him again.

Speak of the devil and he will come back to bite you in the ass. Get ready. It's coming.

Vincent flipped the phone open and carefully dialed in 7 digits with his metal finger, nearly poking a hole through the small, green button used for sending. Then he held the phone to his head and simply looked so majestic that if someone with a camera had been standing nearby, they probably could have taken his picture and sold it to a phone company for advertisements for a _pretty penny, _let me tell you. He counted three rings before a sweet voice tuned into his ear, "Hello, you've reached Strife Delivery Service! What can I do for you?"

And he counted three beats of silence… …before he said, "Tifa. Come in," much, _much _louder than he'd most likely ever said _anything _in his life.

"Uh… hello? Who is this?" the martial artist sounded a trifle confused.

Vincent stayed silent for a second, his version of utter and complete confusion; the surprise was health threatening; and then… "Vincent." Strangely, it wasn't often at all that he said his own name.

Tifa's voice brightened almost immediately. "Oh my… Well, _geez._ I should have known…Vince! Hi!"

He breathed loudly into the phone.

"Hello."

The gunslinger's fingers twitched in slight annoyance when this made her giggle.

He was in the middle of an elaborate, "Goodb—" when she cut him off with, "Vincent _Valentine_, you need to get out more often! We've been trying to reach you for a week! Where have you _been_?" Her tone grew more and more serious. Which, on some level, relieved him. Serious was, obviously, more his style. It wasn't that it made him glad that she didn't sound happy. It was just that he was more on stable ground here.

"Places," he answered cryptically. (Which wasn't surprising, coming from the guy with the crypt.)

She sighed. "I see. Well, things are kind of going crazy around here…" Tifa must have been fiddling with the phone cord or something, because the line got a little fuzzy for a few moments. "Yuffie's gone missing."

Yeowch. Stupid devil.

But that wasn't why something was speeding up in his chest.

He was silent.

"Vincent?"

He breathed into the receiver again.

"We, um… We sort of need you to come down here." She sounded anxious and like she was on the verge of tears all of the sudden. "We're in Wutai, Cloud and I. Cid, Barret, Red and Reeve are coming tomorrow. Yuffie's dad is worried sick. We've been looking everywhere, but we haven't picked up any leads. Her dad was the one that called us—"

"Why do you need me?"

"He said they'd been fighting—as usual, that girl—and she'd run off. People said they'd seen her down by the beach with a couple of strangers—"

"_Why do you need me?_" he asked again, heavily.

"Because—I can't believ—_she's_ the one that needs you."

"There is nothing I can do to help." On the bright side, it was a step up from two syllables.

"But, Vi—"

"Tifa," he acknowledged, his version of saying 'Shut up, I'm going to go hide in a hole in the ground. Goodbye.' Then Vincent pulled the phone away from his ear and pressed the red button with flourish (okay, not really _flourish, _per say,) almost proud of his first phone call. Almost. But not quite. Because, let's just face it, he was practically a social walrus.

The dark man shook his head and was about to clip the shiny, silver contraption to his belt when it started beeping annoyingly and he felt mildly like he wanted to chuck it at the cell phone salesman's head. That is, he flipped it open and pressed it against _his_ head. "Tifa. I can't help you."

There was a loud whooping laugh on the other end. "Heehee… I aint Tifa, but if I was, _whoowee—_"

"Cid?"

"Hey, kid! Speakin' of Tifa, she phoned me yer number!" the pilot guffawed into his mouthpiece. "Brat's gone. You're comin', right?" This was Cid's way of saying he was worried as hell about Yuffie and if Vincent didn't get down there in T-minus 10, he was going to find a certain Venus Gospel in some very uncomfortable places.

Vincent took three slow, stiff breaths.

"Vince? You're coming?"

Not exactly.

"There is nothing I can do."

"What're you talking about? All you gotta do is, like, stand around in Wutai for three Goddamn seconds… and then everyone'll be—"

"Goodbye, Cid." _Beep_.

Vincent had exactly three seconds of peace to gather his thoughts.

_Ring. Beep. Ba-Beep. Beep. Ring. Ding. Bee_—Flick. Roar.

"**HEY! **This is Barret, yo! Wha'ss wrong witchu! Cid just tol' me you aint comin' to save the Yuffie-kid!" This man was giving him a great hatred of exclamation points. Vincent tightened his bronze grip on the phone. "Vince! Hey, _Vi-ince_! Aw, shit! I pressed the wrong button agai—"

"Barret."

Silence. Breathe. Roar.

"**VINCE! **Hey! You gotta come, foo'! C'mon!"

"There is _nothing_ _I can do._" Which was probably the most vehement thing he'd said all decade.

Silence. Roar.

"**BUT VIN—**"

_Beep_.

Vincent got about as close to sighing as anyone had ever seen him get. He wasn't all that good with words. We've been _over _this. He had to choose them carefully. Not give anything away. If he'd had no inhibitions, maybe he would have been as talkative as the missing girl herself. But, yeah, right, Vincent was practically _married _to his inhibitions. So, he wasn't great with words, and when he turned off his phone he could feel them tumbling down off of his shoulders.

In all his refusing to help them find Yuffie, he hadn't really thought about it, honestly. It wasn't that he didn't care about her at all. She was part of AVALANCHE, a group of people he openly considered his friends. But… That wasn't really it. It was more, why _should _he go? There were already going to be at least six people there. And with him, the more the merrier didn't exactly apply. Merry and Vincent didn't fit into the same equation. He shoved the cell phone over the waistband of his pants and marched unhappily down the street back to 'his' mansion. He usually didn't spend much time there anymore, but a few weeks ago the residents of Nibelheim had volunteered to help him clean it up.

And since they couldn't quite picture him in an apron with a feather duster, they were doing it all for him.

The technical owner of the house was just hanging around for courtesy purposes.

His boots pounded mercilessly into the ground as nearby onlookers stared. At the time, he didn't understand what was making him so angry. In retrospect, he sort of figured it out. Not that he ever admitted it.

_Ring. Beep. Ba-Beep._

Vincent froze and looked down menacingly at his cell phone, daring it to keep ringing. There was this budding hatred for the thing in his chest. And, possibly only to irritate him, it took his dare.

_Beep. Ring. Ding. Beepily-Beep. Ding—_Flip.

With the phone pressed to his ear, all he heard on the other end was breathing. Now, _this_ was his kind of guy.

Vincent breathed back. Then, "Cloud."

Cloud gave a shallow sigh. "Vincent."

Vincent was silent.

Cloud tapped his phone with his finger.

Vincent exhaled. "Fine."

"See you tomorrow." _Beep._

…And then, get_ this, _Vincent actually _hurried._ Not that he was concerned or anything. In fact, Mr. Valentine didn't give a flying bird crap. He was completely unworried. He was fine. He was— Normally, he was a pretty honest man.

And that wasn't the whole truth.

Not exactly.

—

**

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¤** author's note** brought to you by **_s a n d !_** it's everywhere! get used to it!

* * *

****j.blue; **Mwahaha! Three Readers, meet Chapter One. Chapter One, meet Three Readers. Chapter One says he likes you. Yep. So, this chapter is kind of OOC!Vinnie, but, he won't be like this the whole story. It was required for the humor. If the humor didn't elude me once again. A very possible thing, you see. Um… reviews will bring good fortunes to your cookies. No, seriously. I have power like that.Fishie wrote the prologue and will be writing next chapter. So, review, and it's possibly possible that she might write faster. Plus the good fortunes for the fortune cookies. That too.  
**A.W.G.B.H.Q./phish;** T-T One flaw-she writes too fast dammit. 

_Sincerely,  
_Robert DuKey Incorporated


	3. Vincent Takes Flight

"Now where is it?"

…

"Well?_" _

…_Uh._

"Where's what?" At that right moment, for no reason, a grin broke out of her face. Maybe, staying here without food for twenty-four hours might've messed her face muscles up.

The smile turned upside down.

So, really, she shouldn't have smiled. Idiot.

"_Deary_," the woman purred dangerously, her eyebrows arching upwards with every word, "I thought leaving you here for a day might've _taught _you."

It was just too painful to look at her now.

"What?" Yuffie spat, trying not to look at her but, at the same time, give the impression that she wasn't nervous, pissed off, twitchy, spastic, pissed off, frightened, pissed off, and scared all at the same time. Of course she didn't know what they were talking about. Bracelet? What bracelet? Jewelry is against the ninja code of honor. Tch. Everyone knew that… who didn't—

_Wait_. They kidnapped her and tied her up in a cave for twenty-four hours just for a freaking _bracelet? _Yuffie's fingers tingled with the urge to hurl her shuriken at their eyes.

But the thing was, she _really_ had no clue. And the more clueless you are, the more suspicious you tend to sound.

Cold, shrewd fingers slapped her cheek. A shiver. A sniff. A glare.

The world was numb for a moment. Blood rushed to her ears. She was positively sure that the tears in her eyes were just because of the shock.

"Honey," the woman cursed when she'd finally figured that Yuffie was just going to stay silent and stare at them awkwardly with her mouth half open with surprise. "Lying is sin."

The man pirate snickered.

Yuffie noticed the dumb looking club he was holding.

"And you know what we do to sinful peop—"

It was the tiny beep that saved her life.

She frowned, and realizing that it was her cell phone, she flipped it open with a grunt. After a few seconds of staring at the screen blankly, she snorted and turned around. "We have to go."

The man pirate stopped giggling.

But just before they left peacefully; just before Yuffie decided that she was going to let them live, the she-pirate turned around with a nasty smirk. She curled her lips as she strapped what looked like a helmet onto her head and laughed. "It's a pity that death doesn't find you so easily."

 ←**W**ater and the Yuffie. **W**orld and the Vincent.→

**Lost f**o**r**_ev_er.

_Oh my_.

**［d a y one/1/hana/ichi/b e g i n n i n g**/blahbadieblah**］**

* * *

Somewhere along the line… She thought she saw her mother. The spitting image.

A hand on her forehead.

Something. Comfort. _Warmth. _**Anything.**

...Right?

_Anyone?_

Right. She was alone. She was crazy. Oh yeah, and one more thing: she was wet.

* * *

Escape from a _world_ of **iL**L**_us_Ion**

**Or _NOT_.**

* * *

"It's just a tea party." He wrapped his bony fingers around his face with a tiring sigh, "Just this once. And then, I won't ask you anymore."

Yuffie shuffled her feet with a frown and without a reply. _Liar._

Even when staring down at the floor, she could see the vivid image of her dad's triangular face turning puke-ish green by every second. Or maybe even purple.

"Yuffie," He said through his clenched teeth.

_What? _

Yuffie looked up, annoyed. "The last time I went…" She took a sharp breath. "All you guys did was talk about how I wasn't good enough for this and good enough for that."

The more she thought about it, the more she didn't want to go. Life should be something more than listening to old people talk, right? And here was her dad, standing about two feet away from her, ready to explode just because she was trying to excuse herself from an event she had never even heard of until now.

And once again, her dad sighed. "I told…" he paused, "I told them you would come."

Two eyes staring straight ahead. Red, ugly face.

She swallowed a scream. It only he would _listen_. Gawd..

"Yuffie!" His speech slipped into strong accent suddenly. "You _are _coming."

A command. A shout. You do this because _I said so_. Stupid, horrible world.

So, she did what anyone would do. She threw a nearby potted plant at him and let it loose.

She screamed. Actually, she'd been a lot more patient than usual.

"NA GANDA!" Yuffie shrieked, picking up another plant for launch. It was only right to tell him she was leaving in Wutaian, right? "DAK PONGOO!" It was only natural to call her beloved father a chicken fart, right? Right?

…Just say yes, and we'll move on.

But Godo already had a pillow in each hand, glaring at her. Without hesitation, he hissed, "Babo ya, nu ani lago." Oh yes she _was _leaving. And she wasn't _stupid._

She threw the pot—missed on purpose. Same as ever.

The ninja heard the pillows hit the door as she slid it shut behind her. "_Try asking next time!_" she yelled through the wood.

And walked away. And whispered it. (_Na ganda._) And slid out of focus—next time.

Well, yeah. _Next time._

But _now_, however, The Great Ninja Yuffie was, unfortunately, was tied up to a huge rock in a gloomy/boring cave and wasn't allowed to do anything but stare and stare and stare at the empty darkness, waiting for at least _something _to happen. How ironic.

Hallucinating? She wasn't that lucky. Memories burned the insides of her skull. And here is why people don't get into situations like this: they remember things that they'd been meaning to forget.

Every now and then, her conscience whispered to her that she should've just gone along with her dad to the stupid tea party, instead of running away sulkily. Like a stupid brat. Hah, like a _kid._ Now that she thought about it, it was a really dumb fight. But she just hated herself that much more for admitting that.

Yuffie tried to sniff, but her nose was too plugged.

Two days. It had been two days since she'd been tied up to that damn rock. And with the exception of two creepy pirates visiting her yesterday, there was absolutely nothing going on. By now, the back of her neck was exploding with pain, staying in that exact same position for, gawd, she didn't want to count again. She was drenched with what seemed like tiny little icicles. The waves must have been mistaking her for a huge chunk of cake, trying to gobble her up every five seconds. It paralyzed every muscle in her, turning her hands into shivering claws like Vinnie's. And the tight rope around her wrists didn't help at all. It dug into her skin, trying to taste some sweet, warm, Yuffielicous blood. In fact, as Yuffie sputtered and coughed, she felt as if she had no hands or legs at all. She was freezing. Just absolutely freezing. Down to every muscle and bone. And then, to top it all of, there was the FREAKING SILENCE/ NOTHING/ NOT EVEN A SINGLE SOUND/ ARGEREAWEOIHGCOLD.

Yuffie took a deep breath. She felt like whimpering and crying, but that just wasn't Yuffie Kisaragi. She closed her eyes before the monster waves.

_It's a pity that death doesn't find you so easily_

Her fingers curled.

The waves collapsed upon her, knocking the air out of her lungs.

Silence.

Cough. Splutter. Cough.

She cursed.

Yeah, well. This, she decided, was worse than death.

* * *

But oh Yuffie.

You'll **r**egret.

* * *

Huge pointy metal shoes clunked loudly against the cold marble floor.

Vincent thought of ringing Cloud. After all, he was here. _Here _as in Yuffie's house. A gigantic place with gigantic pots here and there, standing on the podium. Everything was clean here. Not even a speck of dust lied in the corner. Silently, Vincent was surprised Yuffie lived in such a house.

His fingers fidgeted with the thin, black phone. It might be just faster to call them…rather than trying to find them in this huge pla—

Freeze.

His long fingers twitched— No. No. No. No. Of course not. That was against his religion. It was called Vincintanity. He would not call today. He would never call in his lifetime. Maybe after he died, he might phone good ol' Aeris to tell to get him out of the grave—but just…not today. Vincent glanced at his phone coldly. For the first time, for some odd reason, just because his ego refused the grab the dang phone, the fact that no one was calling started to irritate him. Why couldn't Tifa choose to call right now? (Well, that would just be too _easy._)

_Clunk. Clunk._

The noise echoed painfully through the hallways.

……_**Clunk**. _

The pots vibrated.

_Clunk. Clunk. Clunk. We love you Vincent._

He twitched…again. He seriously should've taken them off—

But no. No. His feet were covered with mold, wearing those shoes for more than twenty years. The world will explode from the smell. Maybe Vincent had twenty toes total, each of his toenails made out of steel.

"Vincent?"

Quickly, he turned around, surprised.

Tifa.

His beating heart let go of the gun.

"You're late!" A smile square in the eyes.

Streams of gold poured through the windows. The sun was already setting slowly.

* * *

Twitch. Twitch. _Twitch_.

* * *

The sun is falling. The sun is falling. Slipping slowly, smearing globs of blood all over that clear thing. Screaming.

Screaming.

_Screaming_.

Oh dear. Oh dear. The sun is falling with those bloody, bloody hands. With those sinful, dirty hands.

And soon enough, weirdly enough, the cities start to **b**reat**h**e.

Blood by blood.

Light by light.

Gratefully. Peacefully. They start to blink. Stealing sparkles from that sky.

&**&**

Finally, on a glistening motorcycle, Vincent's huge, pointy metal hand twisted the handle back, roaring all the way.

Oh dear. Oh dear. His magical cape must've stopped working today.

* * *

**WINGS IS A LAZY PHISH. FIGHT THE MAN! …THAT MEANS PHISHWINGS, YOU HIPPIE LOVERS.**

**

* * *

**

"V-v-v-v-v-v," she chattered. "V-v-v-v-incent?"

Yuffie blinked. Her lips barely seemed to work, quivering and blue.

Without an answer, Vincent started to untie the rope around her wrists. He _had _been planning to say something to her, yes.

His crimson eyes flickered to her face. (Tried not to see the fear.) In fact, he had been thinking of how exactly to start the conversation the whole way down here.

But her blue lips distracted him.

—

**

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****this chapter brought to you by fish's slow, lazy butt. this sentence brought you by j.blue.

* * *

****j.blue; **Let me just say—I had nothing to do with this timing. –points at fish– 

Anyway, down to business, youz guys… We haven't played FFVII. (Shocking, I know.) So— a reference person would be nice. 'Cause we don't really know… anything. I sort of know the characters. But I'm not so good at judging sometimes. Yeah. So. You get my drift. Fishie wrote this chapter, and it is _glorious_. (Even if horribly, painfully, omfg-want-to-drown-myself slow.) I'm not a patient person. Can you tell? Hmm…? Oh yeah, and I messed up Fish's 'Yuffie & Dad' scene. Not gunna lie. But she called him a chicken fart. Which, if you want my opinion, fixes everything.

**P.wings; **Well. I was going to write like in _two _days. But the, I got _stuck._ And then school started and- (this is where I got slapped by J.blue). But. I finished it. Finally. _Finally. _And, now, I think I'll be Yuffentine free for about two days. The glory.

**REVIEWERS. YOU ARE AMAZING. KEEP AT IT, DARN YOU.  
WE'D ELOPE WITH EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU, BUT I'M FAIRLY SURE THAT'S ILLEGAL ON MORE THAN THREE LEVELS.**


	4. Gray Eyes Again

［**day1; **gray eyes again ］

* * *

**i'm going to die.**

oh.

and, yeah…

.._it's _so_ **good**_ **to see you **again.

* * *

"Yuffie. We must go."

Here is one strange thing about Yuffie Kisaragi: she absolutely _hated _the way that Vincent said her name. It was probably the way his voice sounded, like he was describing some awful disease where your toenails shriveled up and entered your bloodstream and poked little toenail holes in your major arteries. Like, the kind of disease where the person just wants to throw their self off a building so they don't have to go through it. Toenails totally sucked. So that was probably why she hated the way he said her name.

Probably.

Her dark eyes were wide as his flawless crimson sight pierced the darkness. And also he saw the relief and fear and the embarrassment and, get this, the _joy. _Weird how someone was happy to see him. "O-Oh. My. Gaw-guh-guh-_gawd_. Vincent Vi-vinko Va-alentin—" A wave succeeded in splashing her in the face. She hardly missed a beat. "Ye-yer puh-puh-possibly the most buh-beauti-tiful idiot that huh-has ever guh-guh-grac-graced th-the—" Splash. Splutter.

Her lips refused to move, dark eyes still widened.

She was dying, wasn't she?

_Don't think about it—_And maybe she hated it because he said _Yuffie_ sort of like _Yuffeh.. _but then again, sort of not. Like it was too time-consuming to take the effort of actually making an 'ee' sound at the end. Like, she was just, you know, 'eh.' Which was totally untrue and _stupid._

So, that was probably it.

Vincent's fingers twitched against her wrist. "Your body is shutting down," he said calmly as could be. (Of course he didn't care. Of course he didn't.) But she could hear the faint sharpness on the edges of his voice. Remember, _faint._ It made her, of all things, smile weakly. She was tied to a rock and the water was up to her chin and she was about to die and, _dammit, _this man was making her grin like an idiot girl.

Maybe she was already dead.

And maybe Demon Boy was really an angel.

How backwards and utterly great.

She tried to mumble something that didn't quite make it into words.

"Do not worry," he replied quietly, looking down into the dark liquid and grimacing.

And wow—just wow—that was probably more than he'd said to her all year. Or, well, close enough at least.

She tried to make out his features in the darkness. He was still the same Vincent Valentine. It was more surprising that she thought it would be. How could he still be the same person when she'd changed? When he was doing something like _this. _When he was freezing with her.

But all she could see was the same old, classic, _Social Interaction Burns My Skin,_ icy Dracula guy as he'd been before.

Surprises, _surprises_.

The "vampire" was close enough for her to catch a wave of his warmth. Probably for the first time, she was _cold _and he was _warm _and—Leviathan damn it all—she was _jealous _as hell.

And, it was just… it seemed that the ambiance of the moment had changed from the moment she choked and tried to point at him and failed, obviously. It wasn't this hysterical franticness anymore. It was tense, silent, strained.

All of Yuffie's least favorite things.

Oh, joy.

Damn Vinnie for forcing his personality on her rescue mission. This was _so lame._

She felt the ropes loosen, fall. She was _free. _So, why was it that she couldn't move?

"V-v-in.." Yuffie fumbled over his name, wavering on her feet, eyelids drifting down as her eyes lost his image. "…iss'hot."

Suddenly she was warm—happy.

She grinned, eyes still half-lidded. And for all the wrong reasons as usual.

He smelled like gunpowder and fire and rain and _boy _of all things.

Oh.

And moldy old people. There was that too.

—So where was he when the world span up and the water flew through her mind?

Right where she needed him.

Her eyes closed.

(No, no—not yet.)

**_

* * *

_**

**Take our tears.  
**_Put 'em on __ice._

**_

* * *

_**

"Vih-Vinnie?"

Oh, man. This was the part where he was supposed to "jump into action," right?

Vincent was getting too old for this.

Well, jumping was simply out of the question. Instead he lifted his eyes slightly to look at Yuffie's shifting form. She blinked a few times. Stretched out her legs. Observed that her tattered jacket had been replaced with his cloak… Then stared at him with the widest eyes he had ever seen her wear, lifting herself up onto her knees.

"Oh my _gawd, _Vinnie! I'm not dead!" she smiled strangely, preoccupied with the surprising amount of life pumping through her veins.

Thank you, Captain Obvious.

"You are not." Vincent nodded.

Oh, and you brought Madame Obvious, too! How're the kids?

"I'm not… freezing to death." She sounded happy at least, albeit a little shocked. "Still freezing though." The ninja pulled Vincent's cloak around her tighter.

"Hmph," he muttered. Had he been a different man, this would be the part where he smiled and tapped her lightly on the hand. "You are not out of the woods yet."

He shifted as if to stand, but she stopped him with a small voice, "Vincent…"

There was a pause.

"This is a _cave_."

Fortunately for Vincent's sanity, he wasn't a different man. _Sigh._

"I was merely using a common expression."

"Yeah, _uh-huh._ That's what all you crazies say. You with your voices. Oh, gawd! Hellmasker told you I was a tree, didn't he? Oh, gawd…" Yuffie looked at him with a tortured look that didn't match her laughing eyes. "_Cave. _C-A-V-E. Say it with me, Vinnie. Fight the man! Er, the demon… monster… dealie-guy…" She trailed off with a cough.

The gunman shot her a rather reproachful look but didn't reply.

The shock was immobilizing.

Or, no, that was probably the fact that she felt like she'd just been hit by a truck. And then burned at the stake. And then laughed at.

Yuffie rubbed her head, looking around at the flat plateau of stone. It ended at a wall on her right and at a drop-off on her left. A strange greenish-blue light bathed everything. "Gawd… I totally didn't see this part of the cave when I was all dragged in and gagged up and such," she exclaimed happily, gesturing at her mouth.

"I swam."

"No shit, Sherlock."

Silence again.

"We must leave," he muttered, gathering himself and standing, slightly hunched over to dodge the low ceiling.

Yuffie followed suit, though slowly, carefully. "So, again… I'm not freezing to death…" she trailed off expectantly, dark eyebrows shooting up.

"I cast a weak cure spell," Vincent answered without looking at her, edging towards the drop-off. "It may wear off soon."

The ninja rolled her eyes. "Only worth a weak one, eh?" she grumbled, a little offended.

Silence again.

He didn't have to answer for himself… but of course, for the sake of the story, he did. "The materia that Cloud supplied was… inadequate."

"Pfft. You're inadequate," Yuffie mumbled, glaring sideways.

Silence again.

Yuffie coughed.

Then… this was surprising. "Something happened to the water," Vincent said quietly, eyes trained on it.

She followed him slowly to the edge of the plateau, glancing off. The water stretched out before them, only a couple meters from their position. Oh, yeah, okay—so they were stranded, but here's the weird part: the water was glowing. Tendrils of green snaked through it and wove together, shining up at them like threads made of moon drops. They crawled over each other, moving as one body.

"Cool…" she said brightly, squatting to get a closer look. "Is that…?"

The man turned to look at her blankly.

_Lifestream._

Silence again.

Yuffie shifted her gaze from the green water to Vincent. "Well, let's go then. Your crappy cure is gonna wear off soon, right?" She rubbed her hands together and shifted from foot to foot. Restless. So, what else it new?

About to dive in, not one to think—

Vincent tapped her forearm with the backs of his fingers once.

The girl froze, every muscle tensed. Then she ever-so-slowly turned to look at him. He shook his head.

"That is Lifestream," he said ("_No duh_," she replied), "You will be poisoned by the mako."

"And you won't?" she half-laughed, glancing at his pale, greenish profile. He looked…

What was that _feeling _in his eyes?

Wait—no. Never mind. That was the light from the water. Nope. He looked… exactly the same as he always did! Finally, he muttered, "What does it matter?"

Stupid Vincent and his stupid Superman abilities and his stupid red eyes and his stupid shiny claw.

"Hmph." Yuffie folded her arms and looked away. "Well, it doesn't look like we have much of a choice, does it?"

Vincent cleared his throat quietly. "Combined with the earlier hypothermia…" he trailed off, an ominous conclusion left hanging between them

She cringed in reply, gritting her teeth. "And?" It wasn't like she cared. It was just the fact that the stone ledge beneath her sneakers was falling away and she felt sick to her stomach. But it wasn't like she was scared. She was a _ninja_, dammit! Ninjas weren't scared to die. They were only scared to lose.

Hah. That much was true at least.

"The others will follow me when I do not return. We need only wait." He sounded worried.

Yuffie still looked skeptical. "You sure, Vinnie?"

_No._

He nodded slightly, avoiding her eyes.

_Liar._

She knew.

With a shrug she retreated back to the corner she'd been sleeping in earlier. "Alright. But don't expect me to sit in your little awkward silences without complaint." She plopped down with a _floomph _as his cloak settled around her. The ninja pulled her knees up to her chest and watched with a stormy glare while Vincent's dark outline turned its back on the glowing water. The cave echoed.

Yuffie felt… small.

Silence again.

Vincent sat down a few feet away from her, folding one leg under him and stretching the other out in all its shiny, golden glory.

She was getting cold again.

"Vih-Vinnie?" she called.

Of course, she knew there was no guarantee that the others would show up. Vincent wasn't even good at telling the truth—let alone lying. But that didn't mean she had to think about it.

"How'd you nuh-know I was here?"

Talk about something else—_anything _else.

Yuffie hated watching him lie to her.

"Cloud arranged the mission," he began. "We all split up, Cloud and Tifa, Reeve and Barret, and Cid and I."

She snorted at this. Mostly it was the image of Cid trying to get Vincent to smoke. _I cannot. Chaos doesn't like the unpleasant fumes. If I don't obey his wishes, he'll never give me his famous fried baby recipe!_

Yuffie's teeth started to chatter.

Vincent pretended not to notice.

"We were all sent to different parts of the country. Cid and I came here, to the Eastern coast because I am familiar with the land," he went on, surprisingly talkative. Maybe he sensed it too—_don't think about it._

"Familiar how?" she whispered, letting her eyes flutter shut as she tried to stay focused on his words. It was so cold.

"I explored these parts after Sephiroth."

"And you didn't visit me."

Vincent pretended not to hear.

"I have discovered that Cid is hard to wake, so I came out searching alone this morning—looking for anything suspicious." He paused there, cleared his throat again. "And this cave… it was not visible last time I was here. From there, you can guess…" Vincent finished.

This was the part where Yuffie laughed at him and made some joke about something or other and giggled and snickered and generally made him feel a bit homicidal.

Except she didn't.

And if Vincent had been another man he'd have freaked out and soiled himself.

"Mm…" she garbled, drowsiness tugging at her temples—pounding under her tongue. "Andid theh recipee werkout fer ya?"

"Yuffie…?" It came from far away.

Suddenly he was right beside her, leaning over her shivering form. "Yuffie!" And although she could see him and he was _right here, _his voice still echoed as if he were all the way across the cave. "If you sleep, you might not wake up." He was worried again. He was sharp again.

She was all smiles—all the wrong reasons.

Again.

She couldn't concentrate.

Ninja eyes shut.

First there was the flowers—they were yellow and white and green and echoing around her like this deepish, softish voice and then they span out of sight and suddenly it was only a lamppost and then her mother brushing her hair and _you can't run fast enough _and her father smiling for once and Aeris laughing perfectly as usual and _you can't scream loud enough _and Cloud looking at her and he was proud and _you can't hit hard enough _and Tifa and Barret and Reeve and Cid and they were proud and it was her turn and _don't worry _and then the whiteness and blank and _it's only a dream._

Then the moon. And also dissolving into bluish-gray eyes. Then it was her. And she was so beautiful.

Yuffie missed her.

She slipped away.

Ninja eyes shot open.

Vincent came swimming into view—and _she _was standing right behind him—one hand on his shoulder, one touching Yuffie's cheek. Vincent didn't seem to noticed her.

She tried to tell him.

A flash of light.

They froze. (Get it? _Frozen?_)

And Vincent's eyes fell shut, his head landing soundlessly on Yuffie's stomach. One true thing about the world: Vincent Valentine did not just _faint _at the sight of her waking up, even if she _was_ simply the sexiest ninja _alive. _He just wouldn't. He wouldn't.

Something was wrong. _She _flew out of focus. Yuffie looked for her. Gone.

_And don't worry, it's only—_

Yuffie passed out.

Silence again.

—

**

* * *

THIS MESSAGE BROUGHT TO YOU BY **_**SEPHIROTH:** __where death is our life's work**

* * *

**_**j.**blue; Okay so! First off, we'd like to thank the reviewers. Because like.. _seriously, _you guys are the coolest people, oh, say, ever? I can't speak for Phish, here, (yesican), but I sit here and squee over each one of them individually. Because we love you guys. ;; Touching, I know. 

Oh! And yeah, the constructive criticism we got was really helpful! It was a bunch of stuff we wouldn't have noticed otherwise, so thanks! (Phish is too lazy to go back and rework the paragraphs, but I hope I explained most of it in this chapter…**-cough**badly**cough-**.)

Psh. Yeah. We're total FFVII n00bs. So… I'm not really sure… where the Lifestream's little "I'm-coming-above-the-surface-to-swallow-dead-Aeris" place is… (Near that shiny white conk shell city thing?) Or how that even works. **–cough– **Yeah… Or much about anything. At all.

Updates! The next one will be slow, and then there'll be a fast one. And then a slow one. And a fast one. And so on and so forth. I mean sometimes I'll be slow (I'm sure this'll happen) and Phish'll be fast. But when Phish is fast, you'll probably be busy hunting the flying pigs anyway… **-is slapped-**

Hmm… what else? Oh, yes… the Korean phrases in last chapter! We're passing off Korean as Wutainese. (Or Wutaian or Wutainian or whatever we decided to call it.) I forgot about this last chapter… Yes. Phish's second language is English—first is Korean. So that's how that worked out. Uhh… Korean is © to the Koreas. …And, uh… Phish… I guess…

**P**.wings; I sound like Pwings. Geez. Pwings. _Peewings. _Anyway. Here's the glorious chapter from _Jayblue_. Her name sounds cooler, doesn't it? Anyway. Do I write slow? .. I don't think so! –**is slapped by blue- **

nxn Review please! And thank you for reading.

_the tunabob salutes you.._


	5. Right Before Death

∴--

·。˙·。。M** o o **n d r **o **ps

**↓**

* * *

And he was just so sick and tired of asking for forgiveness and being forgiven, he felt like taking his gun out and shooting people's eyes out. 

Sometimes.

The world was so much like a whining music box. Whenever he opened it, he heard cries and wails everywhere and he just had to go and stop it. Everyone seemed to be needing help and this whole entire world seemed to be getting in trouble every 5 seconds and he, who was built to be something more than a human being, had to go and stop it.

Before it's too late.

And the thing is—the thing is… it didn't take him _that _long to figure out that no matter _what _he didhe just couldn't undo it. No matter how hard—_how hard_ he tries to save those lives, the lives of people he _didn't _save will never come back. Come back and tell him that it's okay.

It wasn't his fault.

And, sometimes, he wanted to just sit there and pull all his hair out and try to figure out the way to put everything back in its place. Every single part that he let slip by. And the worst part? The worst part is this:

This mutant Turk who lived in a coffin; he'd once had a chance to be

**S**_ **a** v e d _

too.

Just like everyone else.

* * *

**Day 1 – 24 **minutes

* * *

Someone stole the moon today. Only two feeble headlights guided him through the stretched-out, dark, winding road. He'd been searching for Yuffie for more than three hours now. Expecting that others had better result than him, he phoned them on the way back. 

A tiny sigh almost escaped his mouth but he swallowed it back into his stomach. And Vincent was the only one not answering his phone.

Frustrated, (though his worried face still looked pretty damn hot ), Cloud pressed the buttons once more, letting his eyes away from the road for another quick second as the motorcycle rumbled onto a bridge. _Maybe this time_. And with a wish like that, a long wisp of steam escaped his mouth.

Riing.

The night was turning cold, leaving tiny icicles for Cloud. He was almost sure that the lake he was crossing below was like a big, huge puddle of ice water.

_Just answer._

Ring.

_Vincent!_

Ring. Ring.

_Someone-- _

A glowing figure, no, Cloud squinted into the cold, it wasn't really glowing. It was just a bit too pale to be human. A sickly, pale yellow. As if time had worn its shine out.

He slowed down, having the pulsing urge to whisk his blade out.

It took him awhile to realize that the figure was actually a man looking very ill, staring somewhere far off as if he weren't really here and conscious. And, Cloud was very glad, he was human.

Cloud finally came to a stop in front him, his concerned, blue eyes turning to face the man, expecting him to somehow take notice of the ex-SOLDIER or at least turn his head around to look at who had just stopped his motorcycle in front of him out of nowhere. But he didn't. He just stared out there as if an angel was going to come and pick him up.

Close up, Cloud could see that this man was very thin as if he'd just climbed back out of his grave. He clothes were muddy and soaked with what seemed like.. _blood? _

Ring…..

The phone clutched in Cloud's hand, he could feel it vibrate.

"Are you oka—"

_He _must've heard the ring too since he turned his face around slowly and stared but not _exactly_ stared into his eyes.

* * *

**&** he (couldn't) find the → **L**ight.

* * *

As if everything worth living for was sucked out and as if something precious has been stolen from the world forever. 

Cold shiver went down his spine. His hands were freezing.

Riiiing—

_Sorry. If you would like to leave a message, please press one. _

The man sputtered, "D-do I know you?"

_If you would like to leave a text message, press two. _

"No," Cloud took another step closer, feeling the cold piercing inside him.

The man heaved up and down, sputtering like a mad dog.

"I want it back."

_If you would like to leave your number, please press three._

"What are you—"

"It's just so cold out here."

_If you would like to .. _

And he jumped, his arms stretched out as if he was about to soar through the sky and fly off like an angel or something. Cloud reached up and tried to grab him but it was too late and the man, who looked as if he was just about to grow pure white wings, plunged down into the darkness below.

But he didn't grow any wings.

And it was just so cold out there.

The phone stopped ringing with a gentle click, tired of waiting.

* * *

**O**h yes, dearies. ┃_F**i****sh**_ ┃it all out and ( s **o**Lve ) it before your last **b r e a t h.

* * *

**

_Stop snoring Vinnie. _

Yuffie twitched and shivered, pulling up the cloak tighter around herself.

_I said. Shut up. _

She kicked her leg, hoping that it would at least reach Vincent's butt.

_Shutupshutupshutupshutupshut- _

"Oh my _gawd!_ VINCENT," Yuffie yelled, bolting up right, _"_will you please stop snoring?"

And as soon as her horrid voice echoed about a million times in the cave, she felt dumb and stupid and realized that what she thought was Vincent's snore was actually his cell phone ringing like crazy.

Yuffie coughed and looked around. They were still in the cave. A shiver went through her body. And you want to know what was more creepy and annoying? Vincent was just sitting there with his red, ruby eyes open, staring at her.

Was he even alive?

She coughed nervously, "You..uh…gonna get that, Vin?"

"No."

Yuffie let out a sigh of relief. _Sohe's not dead. _She scratched her head and frowned, suddenly realizing how sore she was. Also realizing that he just answered with a _no._

"Uh.. why not?"

"Too far away."

She glared at him, "_Answer _the phone, Vinnie-dear." And then, realizing what she'd said to him, Yuffie came dangerously close to choking to death.

"You're closer."

"Excuse me?" Yuffie frowned even harder. "From where I see it, it's closer to _you." _

"It's not."

"YES, it _is." _

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"_Goddammit, Vinnie. _Just get the freaking phone before it stops_." _

"…"

"What if its like… really, really important? Anyway, it's _your _phone."

"…"

"You get it."

"…no."

And with a slight sigh, "Yuff—"

The phone stopped ringing. They glared at each other disapprovingly.

It clicked again with a faint woman's voice saying something like _if you would like to leave— _

"Vinnie! It's going to turn itself off!" Yuffie screamed, "Seriously. What if it's Cloud or Reeve or Red or Tifa or Cid or a Turk or Barret or a fairy or your alter-ego or…" She forced herself to think more names, "…Sephiroth?!?"

* * *

**& **when Yuffie was_ **d**one_ with her r**am**ble, the phone finally clicked itself off with a softer _click.

* * *

_

Once again, there was silence.

Yuffie, of course, had the strong urge to ask Vincent how long they had been were lying there motionless and why they had fainted in the first place and what happened and why he wasn't moving and staring at things dumbly.

"GAH!" And that, my friend, was the word (if you could call it that) that she spat out, unable to resist the whole _let's not talk from now on _vibe anymore.

Vincent turned his head around quickly and looked at her as if she were sick.

* * *

"….._what_**?"**

* * *

Tifa was sure she heard them. At least…_someone _was there. 

Putting on her gloves, she walked slowly inside the cave, feeling the icy cold water slither around her feet.

There was a faint _ring_. She quickly reached for her cell phone.

No. No. It wasn't hers. It wasn't—

With a frown, she looked ahead only to see nothing but shadows all around the cave. Even the water looked a bit darker. A bit… a bit green, maybe?

And with another step, she decided to keep on going.

* * *

Ha**ppy Ne**w** Y e a r : **!

* * *

**p**.wings: mm. I'm sorry if it's horribly cheesy with that one part with Cloud and stuff. –Will soon improve action/action writing skills- Eh. The story will move along more quick soon. A-hah. ;; And thank you for the reviews. (n.n) Oh yes. And that one review in Korean. It was hard to understand what you trying to say...but that's okay. xD 

**j**.blue; hey guys! Happy New Year!! And... ah... Yuffie and Vincent's weird passy-outty-ness will be explained later, mm'kay? Kay.


End file.
